About the Book

In 1936 a German chemist identified certain organic molecules in ancient rocks and oils as the fossil remains of chlorophyll, presumably from plants that had lived millions of years in the past. Many years later this insight was revisited and the term
“biomarker” coined to describe fossil molecules whose molecular structures could reveal the presence of otherwise elusive organisms and processes—and then, the hunt was on. Echoes of Life is the story of those molecules and how they illuminate the history of the earth and its life. It is also the story of how a few maverick organic chemists and geologists defied the dictates of their disciplines and, at a time when the natural sciences were fragmenting into ever-more-specialized sub-disciplines,
reunited chemistry, biology and geology in a common endeavor.

First Sentence

Lodged in the earth’s outermost layer, ephemeral scratch on a mineral skin,
life plays cards with a handful of elements—builds molecular extravaganzas
of carbon and hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or precious phosphorus, and
forms the pieces to the parts that, assembled, define it. When the game is over, the
cards reshu! ed, the parts dismantled—membranes ruptured, shells dissolved,
bones ground to dust—a few of those organic molecules remain in the sediments
and rocks, bearing witness to the distant moments of their creation.

Table of Contents

1.

Molecular informants: a changing perspective of organic chemistry

2.

Looking to the Rocks: Molecular Clues to the Origin of Life

3.

From the moon to mars: the search for extraterrestrial life

4.

Black gold: an alchemist's guide to petroleum

5.

Deep sea mud: biomarker clues to climate history

6.

More molecules, More Mud and the Isotopic Dimension: Ancient Environments Revealed